Best Places to Get Haunted

There are some frightening places around the world. Some of the scariest have made millions of dollars for Hollywood on the big screen. They bring to life what we fear about death most. But unlike the movies, not all "haunted" places around the world have to be "active" per se. Whether hair-raising or simply eerie, if it's good enough to attract a crowd, it's good enough to make our cut here. Some are sinister while others are just plain spooky, but I've compiled a list of the worlds best places to get haunted. Careful: people have walked away possessed.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland: We've all heard of the horrid tragedies here. Super low estimates suggest that over 2.5 million people (Poles, Jews, Gypsies, Russians and others) were gassed, murdered, cremated or buried in mass graves. Auschwitz is by far one of the most haunting places in the world. When I visited last year, the melancholy that fills the air is like a dense form of air pressureÃ¢Â€Â”heavy and compressing. If the thousands of stacked shoes and suitcases don't break you, the rows of wire fencing and sheds at Birkenau will. Whether haunted or not, Auschwitz is likely the most haunting place on earth.

Paris, France: Yes, Paris gets (and has gotten) plenty of press for its greatness for years. Perhaps, however, you have never heard about the catacombs beneath the Parisian streets. You see, as Paris boomed, the living needed more room to, well, live (and the dead took up too much space). Those people least likely to become offended at moving were, well, again, the dead. Their bones were piled wall high below the city streets. The city of light hid a dungeon of darkness. Today, tourist feel the eeriness more than they see ghosts, but there's no telling what lurks along the empty bones of former artists, builders, street sweepers and old-lady dog walkers.

Sedlec, Czech Republic: The infamous Sedlec Ossuary is (of course!) a Roman Catholic chapel lying beneath the Cemetery Church of All Saints. The Ossuary, a room where dead people's bones are placed, stacked and stored, holds around 40-70,000 human skeletons. The freaky thing is, however, that the bones of the dead have been used artistically throughout the church. Nonchalant looking from the outside, the interior is decorated with wall art, chandeliers, and the famous Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, bell shaped heaps in four different corners and alters and much more fabricated from bones of the deceased.

New Orleans, Louisiana: New Orleans is the USA's number one haunted city, so some say. Ghosts and paranormal activity befuddle this quasi-French quarter. The Lalaurie house, in fact, is said to be full of eerie history, from voodoo mistresses to raping, murders and brothels, this is the sort of place where diabolical weeds take root. The screams of slaves, too, are said to echo from within the ramshackle walls. Ghost tease passerby all day long, and New Orleans is considered a hodgepodge of all sorts of haunting activities.